Cheap Date
by balthezarian
Summary: It's the ultimate challenge for Trunks Briefs: create the perfect first date on a budget!


Note: Please enjoy this little detour of my mind. I, for one, always found these two adorable.

/

Marron's smirk was already putting the young prince ill at ease. Circling him as though she was a predator, eyeing him up and down, she let him know who was in charge. "So," she cockily spoke, "you want something that I, and only I, can provide for you."

Fighting to keep his unease hidden, Trunks looked her in the eye. "If your answer is no, just say it."

"Oh, I didn't say I was unwilling to agree," she coyly stated. "I'm just saying that I have the upper hand."

Trunks scowled. "You know, if you aren't going to take this seriously..."

Marron rolled her eyes. "Unbunch your panties already," she teased. "Look, I'll go along with this, but I do have some terms and conditions."

"I'm not sure this warrants conditions."

"Oh, sure it does." The eighteen year old kicked back in her beach chair, her hands behind her head and her sand covered feet up. "So tell me, Trunks Briefs, what is YOUR idea for what it would entail? What is your plan for this date?"

Even after twenty years of intense scrutiny from demanding parents, scrutiny he could face down with ease, Trunks still struggled to not fidget under the blonde's gaze. "It's a date," he casually replied, feigning nonchalance. "Dinner, dancing, what more is there?"

The girl was unimpressed. "So, if I'm not mistaken, your attempt at wooing me involves you not actually putting in any effort beyond that which is necessary to hand someone your godlike credit card? Oh, baby, turn on the AC because it's getting hot out here."

The prince scowled and growled. "That's not what I said!"

"That's exactly what you said," Marron countered, rolling her eyes. "You've actually managed to put absolutely no thought into this beyond wanting to take me out. Now I don't know if this is just the norm for your family, and quite frankly I think your family norm is probably pretty skewed, but here in the real world it takes more than a credit card to win a girl over. So I ask again, what is your plan?"

"I don't know, okay?" he snapped at her. "You're right, I didn't plan beyond asking you if you were interested. But answer this, hot shot: how huffy would you have been if I had come here, asked you out, but had a full agenda already planned without any input from you?"

"Touché," she relented with a chuckle. "Alright, then, here's my offer. I would be happy to do a trial date with you, so long as you can demonstrate that you are putting more thought into what I like and less thought into your credit card's ability to cover your ass."

Trunks felt his stomach tighten up. Something about her tone told him that it was about to get ugly. "What?"

"You, sir, will have to entertain on a strict budget," she said with a smirk. "So I'll go out with you, but you can't spend more than, oh, let's say twenty bucks."

"WHAT?" he roared.

"You heard me," the blonde returned with a smirk. "Whole date, twenty bucks."

"You can't do that!" he hollered.

Quirking a pale eyebrow at the young man before her, she grinned. "And why not?" she challenged.

"Because," he ground out, giving her an evil glare, "it means I don't get to eat! Do you have any idea what it costs for me to have a light SNACK?"

"Yep," the girl laughed. "That's the whole purpose of the condition. I want you to show that you can put decent thought into this without your most powerful crutch."

"Hey!" he snapped. "My money is not my most powerful crutch!"

Marron could not help the giggle that came out of her. "Really? So which trait is your most powerful crutch, then? Super strength? Power of flight? Terrifying parents?"

"How is my dad a crutch?"

"I was talking about your mom."

Trunks shook his head. "You are the craziest person I have ever met...that I don't share genetic material with."

"What about Goten?"

Trunks shrugged. "Wouldn't rule sharing genetic material out there. Fusion is weird as hell."

Marron threw her head back and laughed. "Good point. Now back to the topic at hand. If you really want to date me, and I am talking about pursuing a long term romantic relationship, I want to know that you really are in this. You've dated plenty of girls, and they've all been wined and dined. But you're not big on repeat performances, and I want to make sure that this is different."

A serious look appeared as he softly stated, "This is different."

"Yeah, probably," she agreed with a smirk. "You're a smart guy. You've probably already tortured yourself over the decision of whether or not to ask me out in the first place. After all, you and I have known each other all our lives. Your friends are my friends, and my friends are your friends...and sister." She paused to let him snort. "Our families are close. If this didn't go well, we don't have the option of avoiding each other. I know you've thought this out. Well, the idea of you and me being paired off, at least."

She was not wrong. Trunks had gone back and forth on the topic for almost three months before making his move. It felt like both the best and worst decision he had ever been presented with. In the end he had chosen to go for it, but under her scrutiny, he questioned that choice. So far, it was not going in his favor.

"Here's my worry," the young woman said, sitting up and resting her elbows on her knees. "I am, clearly, a logical choice for you. I know all your dirty little secrets already. I know you're a half alien prince. I know about your powers. I know about all the little schemes you and Goten pull. I've seen you eat. And here's the kicker: I actually get along with both of your parents. I am risk free."

Trunks swallowed hard, but opted to hold his tongue as she spoke.

Slowly, Marron stood all the way up. "You know I'm risk free," she smoothly, but seriously, told him. "I don't want to be your safety plan. If you want me to be with you, because you actually want ME, I am willing to try this. But you need to prove to me that I actually mean something to you. So show me you care, on twenty bucks or less." She stepped closer to him, once again smirking. "And I want receipts."

The young prince held eye contact as he considered the proposition. As badly as he wanted to avoid such harsh restrictions, there was no real way to get out of them. Not if he wanted the date, at least. "Okay."

The blonde blinked at him. "Really?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "One date, twenty and under. Everything else is my choice."

Marron smiled at him. It seemed he was willing to try, and that certainly made her feel happy. "Sounds good. Oh, and Trunks?"

"Hn?"

She gave him a look that seemed almost wicked. "No pre-spending. You come to this empty handed. I don't want any 'well, technically I bought this BEFORE the date' bull."

The prince cursed under his breath. So much for Plan A...

/

Trunks sat at his desk, his hands grasping at his hair. It was not possible. No matter how he ran the numbers, there was absolutely no way to pull off a magical, enchanted evening on under twenty dollars. He had scoured websites, newspapers, posters, fliers, anything that would give him an idea on how to pull it off. No matter how he played it, though, it would not work. A movie was completely out; twenty dollars was not even enough to get them through the front door. No romantic meals either. In his mind, Marron would not find it romantic to eat her own food while he stared at it and tried not to salivate as he starved. Local fairs and carnivals were closer in range, but twenty dollars would not buy them all that much time.

"What the hell am I going to do?" he muttered.

"Need help?"

The young prince yelped and jumped out his seat, caught completely off guard by the intruder. "Don't do that!"

"What?" Bra returned with a smirk. "Sneaking up on you, or telling Dad that your baby sister scared the hell out of you?"

He shot a glare at the girl. "Have I ever told you how much I hate you?"

"Often, and with great vigor," she returned with a smirk. "So, dear brother, how goes the twenty dollar plan?"

Trunks eyes widened slightly in shock before narrowing angrily. "Marron told you?"

"Goten, actually," she casually replied, swiveling as she sat down in a chair. "And if you wanted to keep this to yourself, you probably shouldn't have told him."

Trunks scowled. When he had confided his situation to his best friend, he had not specified that it was to be kept under wraps. He had assumed that it fell under the unspoken protection of the guy code. Apparently he had been wrong. "He's dead to me."

"I'll be sure to send flowers," the preteen dryly replied. "So tell me, oh suave one, what's the plan of attack?"

Shaking his head miserably, Trunks ran his fingers through his lavender hair. "Frankly, I'm about ten minutes away from begging for help. I swear, I can't make the numbers work!"

Bra raised a slender blue eyebrow at her big brother. "Why not?" She asked, clearly not impressed. "It's not that hard."

"Oh, and I suppose you think you could do any better?" He challenged.

"I don't think it," she shot back. "I know it."

Stunned, Trunks eyed his sister. "You have plans that could work?"

Bra simply smirked his way. "Only a half dozen so far, but I've only known about this for an hour. Give me time."

"Well tell me!" her brother demanded. "At least give me one!"

"Nuh-uh," Bra shot back, a wicked look on her face. "The purpose of this challenge, dear brother, is to prove that you really do care about Marron. How on earth are you demonstrating your affection if I do the hard part for you?"

Trunks took a feeble shot with, "I care enough to ask for help?"

"Swing and a miss." The girl slid to her feet. "Look, I'm telling you that it is doable. The rest is on you." As she prepared to leave. She offered him a serious look. "Promise you won't weasel out of this, because as much as you can annoy me, I really don't want you to screw this up."

Her older brother smiled slightly. "Are you actually wishing me good luck?"

Bra said nothing else, simply smirking as she slid out of the room.

/

"Oh, maiden fair, wilt thou doth grant me thine wondrous hand in courtship?"

Marron giggled. "That's the opener?"

The young man beside her grinned. "Would you prefer something more along the lines of me commanding you to be ready by eight and to wear something velcro?"

"Goten!" she squealed.

Her friend laughed as he sat in the sand. "Have I mentioned how much joy I get when people give me that horrified, I thought you were more innocent than that, look?"

The blonde giggled again. "You're a lot more evil than people give you credit for."

"Thank you!"

Marron sat back in her beach chair. She had hardly been surprised by Goten's appearance at her home. After all, Trunks had been guaranteed to seek help from his best friend. And Goten, mischievous as he was, would never be able to stay away from the situation. "Any ideas what he is planning?"

"Other than ripping his own hair out in stress?" The dark haired boy laughed. "Nope."

With a shake, Marron put her hands behind her head. "Was I being too cruel?" she asked. "Should I have just let him do it his way?"

"Hell no," Goten laughed. "Look, I know I'm supposed to always be on his side, and ninety percent of the time I am, but in the dating arena a man's got to stand on his own two feet. After all, even I think things would get awkward if I show up every time he wants to seduce you."

Marron smirked. "True. And a little kinky."

"Why Marron," Goten teased, "I didn't know you cared!"

"Well, what can I say?" she replied with a wink. "It's a natural assumption, and you two do have a tendency to do everything together."

"True," Goten returned, "but let's face it, the only way to minimize awkwardness would be if Trunks and I fuse, and then there's a time crunch involved, so you'd have to rush anything that falls into the category of foreplay..."

"Okay, stop, stop, stop!" the young woman cried, giggling as she gave him a playful slap. "You can stop now! We are officially moving into the realm of too creepy!"

Goten laughed, but he did agree. After all, no matter how close he and Marron were as friends, she was the girl his best friend was interested in. There were a lot of boundaries that would have to be respected. It was damn tempting to play with that line, though. While he held no romantic feelings toward the blonde whatsoever, it was hard to pass up an opportunity to joke around.

"So tell me," the half Saiyan asked, "is there something specific you're hoping for?"

"Only that he play by the rules," Marron sternly answered. "I want him to put effort into this. I want him to show that he wants this to be real, not just a logical conclusion."

Goten smirked. "You know he's had the hots for you for years, right?"

Marron snorted. "He has not."

"Are you blind or something?" her tall friend countered. "Marron, the boy has been drooling over you since we were in our early teens!"

"That would be easier to believe," the blonde rebutted, "if he had asked me out earlier. I mean really, if he's liked me for that long, why is he just now asking me out?"

Goten bit down softly on his lower lip and squirmed uncomfortably. He knew the answer to that one, but Trunks had sworn him to secrecy years earlier. "Save that as a conversation starter if you guys hit a lull in the date."

Marron shot him a look. "I'm starting with it," she challenged.

"Marron," Goten warned, "don't."

Normally up for an argument, Marron let it go for the time being. Goten did not use that tone often, but when he did, it meant that things were serious. "So tell me, do you _really_ not know what he's planning?"

"I really, really don't," Goten swore. "Sorry sweetie, you're just going to have to wait and see like the rest of us. Whatever it is, you're not going to know until he tells you."

/

The big day arrived, and Marron could not deny that she was excited. She had it on good authority that Trunks had been working almost nonstop on his plan. Butterflies filled her stomach as she watched the lavender haired prince show up in the sky. She grinned as she stepped outside, meeting him on the sands in front of her house. She was expecting a grand opening statement.

She had not anticipated his first words to be, "Cover your eyes."

"Cover my eyes?" the blonde laughed. "Seriously?"

Trunks groaned. "Oh, come on! I had to do homework for this date! Is it really so much to ask that you shut your eyes for a few minutes?"

A sly smile came upon Marron's face. "I don't know," she taunted. "I mean, how many times have you asked Goten to cover his eyes and then used that as a chance to screw with him?"

"That is so not the same thing!" Trunks loudly protested. "Telling you buddy to keep his eyes covered so you can steal his cookies is not even _close_ to telling the girl you like to cover her eyes so that you can impress her!"

"What about the time you had him cover his eyes so you could punch him?" she challenged.

"He earned that one," Trunks defended. "He said I looked like a girl."

Marron placed a hand on her hip, a cocky smile on her face. "Oh, I see. In order to prove you were a _man_ , you resorted to physical violence."

"No," Trunks argued, mindful of the trap Marron was setting. "Because somebody said something in a tone that meant he was intentionally trying to _degrade_ me, I hit him."

"And it had nothing to do with being referred to as feminine?"

"How the hell do you think my sister would react to being told she was, in any way, masculine?"

The blonde chuckled and offered a nod. "Alright, alright, I suppose I'll trust you just this once." Her eyes quickly narrowed, though, before adding, "So help me, if you so much as _try_ to do anything dirty, I swear I'll…"

"I am not a perv!" the prince hollered. "And I am not a moron, either. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to grope you and still believe I had a shot at a relationship with you? Geez, give me _some_ credit!" Trunks put his hands in his pockets and sulked.

Marron frowned slightly. "Trunks…"

"If you're not seriously interested in this," the prince quietly interrupted, "then please, just tell me now. I think that's only fair. Don't you?"

Gently, the young woman reached out and grabbed her courter's arm, pulling his hand out of his pocket to grasp it firmly. "Look me in the eye, Pretty Boy," she softly commanded. When he glanced at her, his head still facing slightly away, she gave him a small smirk. "I'm just funnin' you right now. Yes, I am interested in seeing where this goes. But just like everyone else on the planet, yourself included, I have picked up one or two less than wonderful traits from my parents. As you and Goten have pointed out many times, my most noticeable 'from my parents' trait I have is the inability to shut up my own smart mouth. I'm not trying to weasel my way out of anything. I am, however, going to keep opening my yapper." Her smirk deepened as she rubbed his hand. "I wouldn't be me if I started using tact now."

A little less tense, Trunks attempted a weak smile. "Well, you are a loud mouth," he agreed.

"See?" Marron said. "Now, can you stop pouting already and take me on the damn date?"

As Trunks pulled a bandana out of his pocket, he stuck out his lower lip. "I wasn't pouting."

The girl giggled. "You were _so_ pouting!" she retaliated.

"I don't pout!" the prince insisted.

The bandana was being secured around her head as Marron asked, "Then what the hell were you just doing? Because it sure looked like pouting to me."

"That wasn't pouting," Trunks firmly clarified. "It was brooding."

"Ah, _dignified_ pouting," Marron giggled.

"Brooding is not pouting!"

"You learn that one from your dad?"

Trunks decided to take the high road and stick his tongue out at the blindfolded girl.

"Put the tongue away."

Trunks stood up straight quickly. "What makes you think I stuck my tongue out at you?" he challenged, his voice far calmer than his nerves.

Marron rolled her eyes under the bandana and stuck out a hip. "Because when someone is blindfolded in front of you, you have a tendency to either stick your tongue out at them or give them the finger. Now I know that you tend to do that second one a little more often these days, but I like to think that you at least respect me enough to choose the first one. After all, it is our first date."

 _Possibly the most bizarre one of all time_ , the lavender haired young man thought. "Since it is our first date, shall we be off?" he asked. "Unless, of course, you _want_ your parents to join us…"

The blonde took to the sky quickly. She was hardly the experienced martial artist her friends and family were, but her family had taught her the basics of ki control so that she would be able to fly. After all, their little group had a gift for getting into problems that a person might need to flee from. It just made good sense to make sure _all_ the kids could fly. However, while Marron had some seriously gifted human DNA in her, it did not grant her the same gifts as the Saiyan DNA her date carried. "So, since I can't actually see where I'm going, are you going to carry me or what?"

"Do you promise to not interpret this as groping?" Trunks sternly demanded.

"Cross my heart, hope to die," the blonde swore. "Bridal style, I assume?"

Trunks smirked. "Wow, five minutes in to our first date and we're already planning the wedding?"

Marron snorted. "We would be if we had stayed near my mom." She shook her head, feeling the banana shift slightly as she did so. "She wants you to be my husband so badly that I almost turned you down on principal."

"Yeah, but then you would've been stuck with Goten," Trunks supplied with a chuckle. "And then you wouldn't have been just dating Goten, you also would have been dating Chi-Chi and Gohan and…"

"And the rest of the family with boundary issues," Marron laughed. "I must say, I definitely prefer the Briefs model of 'Get the Hell Out of My Business' to the Son model of 'We Share Everything With Each Other!' It just suits me better."

"Good," the prince responded, "because I really don't think my family is going to get touchy-feely anytime soon." He paused before adding, "If they ever do start acting that way, then they've either been drugged or possessed. Either way, they need to be put down until we can figure out what the hell happened."

Marron laughed. "It's about a fifty-fifty draw with my own family," she chimed in. "I mean, Dad's an open book, but if my mom started getting touchy-feely…"

"Then the same put them down now, fix, revive with dragon balls clause applies," Trunks finished up.

Trying to look at him through the blindfold, Marron asked, "Do you think this is what normal couples talk about on first dates?"

"First of all, I have no idea," Trunks answered. "Secondly, just look at where you and I come from. 'Normal' was _never_ going to describe us. You come from a midget martial arts master and a reformed evil cyborg, and I come from a slightly mentally unhinged super genius and the prince of a near extinct alien race, also in the reformed from evil category. Face it, we were screwed from day one."

"Yeah," Marron agreed with a giggle, "but be honest, isn't this way better than 'normal' could ever be?"

"Hell yes."

The blonde realized that the wind was not rushing past her face as quickly anymore and deduced that they were slowing down. "So where, exactly, are we going?"

"You'll see," Trunks said, his voice calmer than it had been all evening. He landed softly and carefully placed the young woman on her feet.

Marron frowned slightly. She was not upset by any means, but she was trying fiercely to decipher where they might be. The ground was soft underneath her, but she could not tell what exactly what it was through her shoes. She could hear the sound of water flowing nearby, meaning there was either a creek or a river nearby. The air was fresh, so they could not be anywhere near an urban area. "I'm guessing we're doing something outdoorsy?" she dryly asked.

"Gee, wonder how you pegged that one so quickly," Trunks responded with a chuckle. "Okay, bandana off. You can see it now."

The blindfold was taken off, but Marron could not really see any better. It was really dark out. Clearly they were at least a few time zones away from where they had begun. "What, exactly, am I looking at?"

Trunks drew a long slow breath before he answered. "This." The tips of his fingers began to glow with power, and Marron looked on with a smile. It was a move she had seen a thousand times before out of any of a dozen people, but that did not make it any less impressive to her. The prince extended his bright fingertips down to the ground, finding his target with ease. The structure built for his bonfire lit beautifully.

But it did not stop there. As the tips of the flames reached higher up, they singed a single a single string. It took no time at all for that thread to snap. The sound of a ball dropping had the young woman looking to her left, and she barely managed to see the small sphere drop onto some sort of mechanism.

Suddenly she was no longer surrounded by only the light of the fire. Small lamps, all hanging from surrounding trees, glowed prettily all around her. There was a small table set up with a bottle of something Marron could not quite identify chilling in a bucket and a small box placed in the center. Another soft thump sounded, and Marron heard a sound she had only heard a couple of times in her life: an authentic phonograph, playing an old record of one of her all time favorite songs.

"Holy crap," she whispered.

"And," Trunks stated, reaching in to his pocket, "I have all the receipts right here."

Still slightly shocked, Marron grabbed the single slip of paper. "It...it says that you only bought double a batteries," she stammered out.

"And it's true," Trunks replied with a smirk. "The batteries were the only things I bought. Everything else was either made or borrowed." He walked over to the phonograph and smiled. "This belongs to my grandmother. You saw it when we were kids, and your eyes lit up when you heard this being played on it, so I asked her if I could borrow it."

Still stunned, Marron just nodded. That conversation had taken place almost a decade earlier. He had remembered that?

"These," he said, gesturing to the lamps, "are my grandfathers. They were the ones you, Goten and I used to catch fireflies with on that camping trip. Well, three of them are. The rest just complete the collection."

"I so won that contest," Marron softly said, still unblinking.

"We took it easy on you," Trunks countered with a chuckle. He moved further, pointing to a small generator that was powering their evening. "I built this a few years ago, but I did have to spent a little time tuning it up in order for it to, well, not overload what we've got. And over here," he continued, picking up the chilling bottle, "is a very special drink for the evening."

Studying the unlabeled bottle, Marron asked, "What's in it?"

Trunks popped the top off and smirked. "Orange juice, fresh squeezed, by hand, by me," he bragged. "And before you try to get on my case about not getting receipts for the oranges, I will have you know that these were fresh from the Son family farm."

"You didn't steal those from Chi-Chi, did you?" the blonde cautiously wondered aloud.

The prince rolled his eyes. "I'm insane, not an idiot. I'm not risking the wrath of the head of the Son family over something like this." A slight blush crossed his cheeks as he muttered, "I promised to wax all the floors in her house for an unlimited supply of the oranges."

Marron laughed. "You what?"

"Look, neither one of us wanted money to trade hands," Trunks defended, "but it felt wrong to just take food from a woman who probably risks losing a hand over it every time her family has dinner. So I asked what work I could do for her. I thought that it would be the stuff Goten always did, you know? Chopping wood, fixing the roof, general tidying, that kind of stuff. Apparently, though, none of the Son boys can properly wax a floor, and when she asked and I told her I could, she just jumped at the opportunity. So technically, I am paying for the beverages for the evening with physical labor, not cash."

"Are you sure that you've got enough of it for both of us?"

"Absolutely," Trunks assured. "There's, um, a giant crate of oranges behind that tree over there. I can squeeze as needed."

Marron approached him and smiled. "Suddenly I know why you're waxing _all_ of the floors in her house. Did you leave _any_ for them?"

"A few!"

Practically glowing, Marron wrapped her arms about Trunks' body and pulled him into a hug. "This is amazing, Trunks!" she grinned. "I can't believe that you set all of this up for me! I mean WOW! You really went all out!"

Slowly the prince returned the hug, resting his chin on top of her head. "I tried."

"You did great!" She gave him an extra squeeze before releasing and turning back toward the set up. "Seriously, this is phenomenal! I can't believe you were able to pull all of this together so quickly!" However, she was still confused about one thing. "Hey, if you built the generator, and that one's clearly not running on batteries, what the hell were the double a's for?"

"Those," her date charmingly stated, guiding her for the box on the table, "were for these."

Giving the young man a wary glance, Marron slowly put her hands on the lid of the box. "How scared should I be right now?"

"Just open the damn box already!" Trunks quickly laughed.

Her hands moved daintily as she lifted the lid, and she actually squealed when she saw what awaited her. "You have _got_ to be playing with me right now! How the hell did you get these?"

Trunks dipped his hands into the box and lifted out two handheld game devices. "You have no idea what I had to do to get _these_ back."

"You're right, I don't," his date said with awe. "I mean, how is this even possible? Gohan took these away from us when I was fourteen and we wouldn't put them down during that party, and when we tried to get them back from him, they were gone! Where were they?"

"It turns out," Trunks drawled, "that dear, honest Gohan lied through his teeth about these being stolen. He gave them to Piccolo and told him to hide them in a place where we wouldn't possibly find them on our own." With a shake of his head, he added, "He had no problem taking these away from the three of us, but flat out breaking them 'just seemed wrong'."

Marron giddily turned on her old device, asking, "So seriously, how did you get these?"

Trunks shrugged one shoulder. "I took a shot in the dark with Gohan and flat out asked him if he had any idea where they ended up. You know that face he makes when he's in a position to lie but he hasn't figured out what his story is?"

"Eyes go wide for three seconds, nervous laughter, scratch the back of the head, and avoiding eye contact while looking to the left of whoever he's talking to?"

"That's the one," Trunks affirmed. "Well, apparently he wasn't ready for the question the other day, I called him on it, and he admitted that he had given them to Piccolo."

As Marron began to scroll through the old features, she theorized, "So you had to hunt down Piccolo and see if he remembered where he hid them all those years ago?"

Trunks nodded. "Now, I figured that it would take the old man a while to remember where he hid them, but apparently he knew _exactly_ where they were."

"And that was?"

"At the Lookout."

Blinking, the young woman asked, "He hid them at the Lookout?"

"He planned to," Trunks clarified. "It turns out, though, that Earth's latest Guardian needed a hobby while he was up there."

"No…he actually…" Marron could not finish her sentence as a wave of giggles washed over her.

"That's right. Dende, Guardian of the Earth, has apparently spent the last few years wiping out our high scores."

That sobered her up quickly. "He did _what_?"

"He beat our old high scores," Trunks repeated. "He spent so much time playing the Piccolo was only too happy to make him give them back to the 'rightful owners'." He reached over to the table and poured each of them a cup of orange juice. "Now, since that little sprout did that to us, I propose the following: you and I stay up as late as we can, mainlining OJ and fighting our way back to the top of the charts." He nodded to a bag near the base of the table. "As you saw, I spent my entire budget on batteries, so we can play all night long."

"You know," Marron softly spoke, approaching her date slowly, "you shouldn't promise a girl that you can go all night long if you can't live up to it."

Trunks smirked and leaned over to place the cup on the table. His face was only a couple inches away from hers. "You'll find that I am more than capable of living up to that promise."

"Hmm." Slowly, the young woman lifted up onto her toes and gave him a very soft kiss on his lips. "All right, Pretty Boy. Let's do it."

/

Six hours later, Trunks landed on the sand in front of Marron's house. "Well," Marron quietly, "I'm not sure that counted as all night long, but other than that, bravo."

"Hey," Trunks softly argued, "we kept going until the sun came up where we were. It's not my fault that the best place I could find was five hours ahead of your place."

"It's a technicality," his date chuckled, "but I suppose I can let you get away with it. Just this once, though."

"Oh, you're most gracious." He placed her on her feet and kissed her on the top of her head. "Besides, it was more than enough time to wipe the sprout off the leader boards for both of us."

"True enough." Gently she leaned over and nuzzled up against his chest. "I've got to say, Trunks, this was way better than I thought it would be."

The prince frowned slightly. "You didn't really have that little faith in my ability to pull this off, did you?"

"Pulling it off was never in doubt," Marron clarified. "But thinking about everything you did, and not just the set up...your grandmother's phonograph, your grandfather's lamps, rebuilding the generator, waxing Chi-Chi's floors, hunting Gohan, then Piccolo, then Dende just to get a gaming system that I had assumed had long since been destroyed…" She held him tighter and grinned. "You proved that you really are interested in me, and you did an awesome job at it." She backed up just enough to lean in for another gentle kiss. "And to top it all off, you have been a perfect gentlemen the entire time."

Kissing her on the forehead, Trunks offered a sly grin. "Does that mean that I earned a second date?"

"Yep," she agreed, cuddling up to him. "And I can't wait for it."


End file.
